Insight into Indian renaissance

Rioting ‘London’ and Looting ‘Games’ !

The name which always comes first to our mind , whenever we talk about “Efficient Police Forces” in the world, is “SCOTLAND YARD”.No doubt they have been exceptional in their response to organised crime , safety of citizens , identifying and investigating suspects and in making sure that real culprits are convicted.

But , what started as a protest against the alleged ‘unlawful’ killing of a non-white youth named Mark Duggan in Tottenham , North London and further deteriorated into full scale-riots in London and spread in other cities like Birmingham , Liverpool and Bristol , did actually nothing to the store prestige in the much acclaimed police force of London.The claim of police that the guy in question fired a shot before he was killed in reciprocal firing by police has come out as untrue after the result of a forensic tests of the gun came out.

The strangest thing for me was that even after the mayhem and anarchy for three days police had still restrained themselves from taking any stricter action against rioters.They were possibly compensating for their earlier actions.But that is not how a riot is controlled.I was rather surprised reading the statement of top police officers that

“That’s a tactic that will be used by the Metropolitan police if deemed necessary,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh told reporters. He was talking about the use of plastic-bullets.It is surprising considering that many police forces would have already used something like ‘plastic bullets, ‘baton-charge’ and ‘tear-gas’ if the rioters continued even after three days.I am not sure if it is another proof of ‘Human-Face’ of British Police or just the deficiency and political correctness and weakness in containing riots.

The strange thing about this riot is that , though we are aware why and where it originated but we are completely unsure of objective of rioters.They also lack any specific face , color or gender.But what binds them all is that they all are young , very young and probably without work.Is this really a riot or the frustration and anger of unemployed and unprivileged younger generation towards the administration of city of London and Britain.

Indian cricket team is due to play English Team in Birmingham and the games are obviously at risk considering the security concern of players.Even if game happens it would be very difficult to attract crowd to the ground as they will be very concerned about their safety.

That is a very grim and unfortunate situation in the city where Olympics are to be held in 2012.The same situation in any Asian Country would have invited calls for shifting the games to elsewhere but as we know justice is always ‘Fair’ in the outlook, it won’t happen to London.

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You mention the ambiguity of the objective of the rioters. Whilst the riots where happening there were many soundbites I heard on the radio that made me fear so much for the youth of today. When asked why, there were often responses of “something to do innit” or “got nothin better to do” the most memorable for me was a young man, aged about 17 I think, who’s response was that he had not offended before, so he wouldn’t get in too much trouble with the police, he would get off with a caution, I was pretty discgusted.

As it turned out I don’t think any of the rioters got off lightly if the media is to be believed. Apparently court rooms and judges were working 24/7 processing these thugs, there was even talk of problems of prisons potentially exceeding capacity because of the rioters!

So what’s so wrong with our youth? Our country unfortunately seems to reward those who are uneducated and out of work. The monetary benefits one can have for not working are pretty good. And if I had perhaps taken the “career option” (tongue firmly pressed in cheek here) of getting pregnant at 15, not continuing my education, I would by now have a house of my own (paid for the government), wouldn’t be enduring the 3 1/2 hours of commute to work every day, and would most likely be receiving more money than I do (for quite a well paid job!) now! Crazy.

This doesn’t show a good example to the kids, that they an get lots of money for doing nothing! And these sort of families breed these sort of people and the cycle does not stop, and honestly, who can blame them, with university fees soon to be costing up to £9000 a year why would they want to go and get an education!

So in short, I think the rioting was just a small example of a very big problem in society!

Welcome to the blog.I am actually very surprised and shocked to know the level of some people’s unwillingness to do work and earn for money, instead they feed on tax payers money.In India it’s totally different.There is actually no system in place for underprivileged and needy.Both are extreme in their response to the socio-economic problem.

I was in Birmingham 2 days after the riots and all was calm. I was very impressed with the father of one of the youths killed by car. He called for peace and got it. The murder of 3 muslim men during Ramadan could have been the start of something terrible, but thanks to this great man it didn’t happen.

If it was a non-western country, the harshest criticism would have gone not towards the rioters but towards the authorities for their ‘inefficient handling of the riots’. Pretty much how the Anglo-American media reacted towards Beijing’s handling of ethnic clashes in Tibet before 2008 Summer Olympics.

The riots didn’t occur because the malevolence of the chavs, but because of the despondency of the huge underclass in Britain. Given the state of things in UK and US, the future doesn’t look very good for these people and hence the rage. I wonder how long the Anglo-Saxon world would remain in denial about this new world realities and keep blaming the symptoms rather than the disease.

India’s economy is growing at over 8% and is one of the fastest growing in the world. TATA recently closed a factory in UK because they said when the TATA Chairman flew all the way from India to visit, none of the UK employees could be bothered to show up and said they were going home. TATA said UK workers are too lazy and Indian workers work hard. Literacy rate in UK is falling, yet India is still producing more scientists, university grads, PhDs than any other country. Many patriotic UK people still think UK has British Empire and rules the world, they are now getting a rude awakening that this is not the case. In UK they made fun of Indians and India for many decades, but now shoe is on the other foot, and many UK companies are begging India to do joint venture deals! Riots in UK is a major problem due to uneducated, lazy citizens who want state handouts and do not want to work hard for their living – very sad!

Not everyone in UK is lazy and uneducated, but many youth are like this unfortunately. Older generations not so much. UKs economy is currently growing at 0.2%. Pretty obvious who is winning this economic race and why! People who work hard, and believe in education will always come up. People who are lazy and think education is a waste of time will suffer. India is the future and the world knows it. Only thing is India needs to get rid of corruption!

Indians work hard because they don’t have a choice. The British people are covered by social security and hence, unwilling to work for very low wages (a company in Wales, for example, was offering £400 a week for a target based telesales job). Indians on the other hand are not covered by social security and hence, will work their butts off on a donkey’s salary because they have no other option.

India’s economy is growing at 8% because it is rock bottom to begin with. The per capita GDP of India and other South Asian countries is more comparable to some Central African countries than its Asian counterparts. Some African countries witness a GDP growth of 38% and above because of the same reality.

Indian universities churn out a large number of university grads and Ph.Ds because they have pretty much no quality control, all you need to get a degree in India is a highly developed skill for memorising notes and vomiting the same in exam papers.

The intention of my comment is not to put Indians down, but to bring them to the realities of their growth story. Unless the people of this great country realise this, they’d end up like the US and UK once their growth reaches a saturation point. The US made the same mistake of assuming that a high growth rate is eternally sustainable.

There are certainly some positives in the growth story of India with some obvious negatives like uneven distribution of wealth.But to say that India’s economy is at rock-bottom is an exaggeration for a country whose GDP is at 4th in the world by PPP and 10th in Nominal out of over 200 countries. And considering that India’s per capita income is very low there is no point that India’s GDP growth is going to be saturated in near future.

India’s GDP (PPP and Nominal) is at the 4th because India has over 1.2 billion people. Thats a hell lot of people, it easily boosts up GDP numbers even if the per capita GDP is African levels to begin with. It is more than the population of the continents Europe (+ Russia) and Africa combined. Thats 20% of the world’s population.

Given that the US economy is standing on quicksand and that India’s growth story is largely dependant on service exports to the US, Indians should be concerned about a saturation or crash even at this point. To continue a hihg growth rate in the face of a crumbling US economy, India needs to beef up its infrastructure so that the domestic market is stimulated and also diversify its business interests beyond the Anglo-Saxon sphere of influence.

Otherwise, we’d see the same situation in India as in UK, only that Indians wouldn’t riots as much (due to their steadfast belief in karma and afterlife) and wouldn’t have the security of a welfare state to fall back.

Interestingly India’s GDP is not high just because of big population as a section of population , which lives on 1$ a day , as large as 60% doesn’t contribute much to the the National Output.India’s GDP is actually a true reflection of increased Industrial output , a good service sector , and high productivity of agriculture and a comparatively bigger middle class.

Another misunderstanding is that Indian economy is dependent on US/UK very much but the fat is that BPOs, financial services and other software exports contributing to just about 2% of India’s GDP and is unlikely to alter the growth story much.

But yes, as in our companies we prefer to have a varied and bigger client-base instead of depending on one or two giants , it is preferable for India to explore export opportunities in the countries of Africa , South America apart from North America and Europe.

Hey Ria, no, no, I do not insult people I only speak the truth. I LOVE the UK just as much as I LOVE India and I am a British Citizen and have lived in UK since I was a few months old, but the truth is the current generation of YOBs (Youth on Benefits) are turning Britain into a joke. They don’t want to work and want something for nothing. The hard working Brits are having to pay for these YOBs through their taxes. I think the government needs to abolish state handouts and get these YOBs working hard instead of letting them riot and steal from honest tax paying citizens in the UK. In India, poor people are not given benefits and most are desperate to learn, get an education and make something of their lives – many study under street lights because they don’t have electricity. That attitude is a strong contrast to YOBs who are paid to go to school, and teachers BEG them to learn instead of being disruptive.

The MAJORITY of brits are hard working, honest, decent and nice people, but the YOBs and uneducated are ruining the UK for sure and that has to change through government policy – i.e. stopping the welfare state and forcing people into work – meaningful work. I’m only speaking the truth, so please don’t feel insulted – I was just calling a spade a spade as it were but I do love the UK and the people here just as much as India and Indians as I have seen both sides of the coin 🙂

No worries, I don’t feel insulted at all, because I whole heartedly agree, I get SOOO angry that all these people get a free ride through their chavtastic lives (yes i did just use the word chavastic – apologies for that one) when I am doing 12 hour days 5 days a week just to pay my bills with minimal disposable income – would love to get the free house and money they get – alas I fear my parents are stuck with me living at home well into my 30s (I’m not quite there yet but with all that talk in the news today about the rental generation i fear my future is bleak!). – eek, im ranting again – too angry for punctuation! Too often, through the channel of facebook I am shown the people I went to school with who chose not to continue their education like I did, they have houses, money and lots of leisure time- so so wrong!! grrrr (yes, i just growled!!)